ARtillry Briefs, Episode 8: Is AR the Next Local Commerce Engine?

Of all the areas of applicability for consumer AR, local commerce is up there. We’re talking local search and discovery — everything from finding a place to eat to buying a car. These behaviors were transformed by smartphones, and represent about $150 billion in U.S. advertising spend.

But how will it materialize in AR? This is the topic of the latest episode of ARtillry Briefs which you can see below. We’re talking AR apps for navigating to or discovering local shops, including informational overlays like reviews, product availability, menu items or notes from your friends.

Monetization flows from there, and could involve things like sponsored or enhanced local business profiles or informational overlays that unlock additional details or multimedia about a business. And that’s where the opportunity’s biggest accelerant comes in: Google.

Google sees AR and “visual search” as a way to drive and track local commerce in the physical world, where most spending happens. That lets it take the next step in its advertising business by painting a clearer picture of ROI and attributing transactions in the last mile to the cash register.

That will all come together through things like Google’s VPS, which lets users navigate inside stores, including directions to store shelves and the items they carry. And Google Lens lets users point their phone at items to receive search-like info about them.

And of course this all relates to AR in that it utilizes similar computer vision, object recognition and informational overlays. But how will it all play out? How long will it take? Who’s best positioned for a visual search future? And what does it mean from where you sit? Check out the episode below.

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Disclosure: ARtillry has no financial stake in the companies mentioned in this post, nor received payment for its production. Disclosure and ethics policy can be seen here.